“Voting stock?” Holloway asked.
“Of course not,” Landon said, annoyed. Only Aubrey family members received voting stock. “Class B.”
“With my hundred million a year, I could buy as much Class B ZaraCorp stock as I want,” Holloway said. “And maybe some BlueSky stock, too. To diversify my E and E sector portfolio.”
“Christ,” Aubrey said. The mention of BlueSky appeared to have pinked him a bit. “Let’s get this over with. Five hundred million credits, Holloway, in your account, right now. Take it, jump the next ship off Zara Twenty-three with your dog, and be the single richest contractor in the history of ZaraCorp.”
“What’s the catch?” Holloway said.
“No catch,” Aubrey said. “Landon here can call up the amount and we can do it right here on this rockpile. But you have to give up all rights and claims. And then you have to leave.”
“How much time do I have to think about this?” Holloway asked.
“Until I get bored with you and walk away,” Aubrey said.
“Well, in that case, I’ll give you my answer now,” Holloway said. “Which is that you can take your offer and jam it sideways. I don’t like being pressured into making deals, and I don’t give a damn whether you’re going to run the company one day or not. I have legal rights to this claim. I’m going to exercise them, and profit from them, and I’m not going to be bought off for less than what I’m rightfully owed, simply because it’ll be convenient for you.” He jerked his thumb at Landon. “And though it clearly pains Landon here when someone speaks to you in less than a groveling tone, I’ll tell you this right now, and this is a promise: Try to cut me out or shut me down one more time, and you’ll see just how big a public relations nightmare I can be. Fact is, right now you need my cooperation more than I need your money. You need to remember that.”
Aubrey looked over at Landon. “Told you,” he said.
“Yes, quite,” Landon said, looking at Holloway. Then he pulled out his infopanel and pressed it. “And since we were in fact prepared for the quite dramatic pissing all over our offer, Mr. Holloway, I’ve just sent you our surveying requests, which you’ll find waiting for you when you get back to your skimmer. There seems to be a large tributary branch running off the main sunstone seam. We could have had some of our other surveyors map it, of course, but we were aware you might have concerns vis-à-vis Teppo, and we wouldn’t want you to think you were intentionally being left with nothing to do. As a warning, it requires jungle floor mapping, so do watch out for predators.”
“And try to avoid any other major ecological disasters, if you can manage that,” Aubrey said.
“I think I can manage,” Holloway said.
“We’ll see,” Aubrey said. Holloway turned to go.
“One other thing, Holloway,” Aubrey said.
Holloway turned. “Yes?”
“You have rights to this seam and you can be sure you’ll get every last thing that’s coming to you, while you’re here and after you’re gone,” Aubrey said. “But your contract runs out in five months. When that happens, your time really is up. You’re getting a ride home and after that, no amount of money will ever get you another contract with this company. Hell, once you get home, you won’t even be able to book passage on another ZaraCorp ship. Every subsidiary we own will automatically bounce you back. That’s my promise to you. Just so you know.”
“Seems a bit drastic,” Holloway said.
“It probably is,” Aubrey said.
“Do you do this with everyone who annoys you?” Holloway asked.
“No,” Aubrey said. “Just you. You inspire that reaction in people, Holloway.”
“It’s a gift,” Holloway said. “But as long as we’re talking promises, now that you’ve had your strong-arm attempt, are you going to release the compensation you’ve been illegally withholding from me? The cost of the initial exploration of the seam came out of my own pocket. Now that you’re exploiting it, you’re obliged to pay me back. And my dog is out of explosives.”
“Lovely,” Aubrey said. He nodded to Landon. Landon fiddled with his infopanel.
“Done,” Landon said. “Enjoy your eight thousand two hundred sixteen credits, Mr. Holloway. Don’t spend it all in one place.”
Holloway smiled in spite of himself as he walked away.
Joe DeLise was waiting at Holloway’s skimmer. “You didn’t steal anything, did you?” Holloway asked.
DeLise smiled. “I’m sure going to miss you, Jack,” he said.
“Don’t get mushy, Joe,” Holloway said. “I’m not going anywhere just yet.”
Chapter Ten
Isabel came up to the skimmer as soon as it landed. “We need to talk,” she said.
“Yeah, we do,” Holloway said, exiting the vehicle. “You think you could stop telling people that I let Carl detonate explosives?”
“What?” Isabel said.
“Stop telling people I let Carl set off explosives,” Holloway said.
“You do let Carl set off explosives,” Isabel said.
“Yes, but you don’t have to tell people about it,” Holloway said. By this time the topic of conversation had come over, tail wagging. Holloway petted him. “I’m apparently becoming famous galaxy-wide for it. I’d rather not be.”
“When you train your dog to blow things up, it tends to be noted,” Isabel said. “And for the record, I don’t talk about it. The only time I did talk about it was at that inquest, which I will remind you, Jack, was caused by your own procedural shortcuts.”
“You didn’t have to talk about it then, either,” Holloway said.
“Really?” Isabel said, thinning her lips. “Because I was under the impression that when one is forced to testify at a company inquest and continuing one’s job is contingent on telling the truth, when one is asked ‘What other unusual surveying practices have you personally witnessed Jack Holloway engage in?’ it might be prudent to describe what they are.”
“It didn’t make my problems any easier,” Holloway said.
“Well, I’m sorry my telling the truth about the stupid things you do is inconvenient for you,” Isabel said, in the clipped, quiet voice she used when she was truly pissed off. “Although now that you mention it, your calling me a liar about that and other things at your inquest didn’t do wonders for me, either. When the inquest gave you the ‘not proven’ judgment, I got a markdown in my employment record. It says that my ‘judgment might be impaired due to close or romantic relationships.’ I suppose that may be true enough, because I was with you, which was a clear case of impaired judgment. But it wasn’t impaired in the way they thought it was, and I certainly don’t deserve a mark against me because you lied, Jack.”
Holloway watched Isabel, remembering the cold fury she’d shown him after the inquest, which this outburst was a pale echo of. “I told you I was sorry,” Holloway said.
“Right, when you tried to give me that rock,” Isabel said. “And I told you then that I’d be happy to hear you were sorry when you meant it. But you’re still angry with me about something you did. So I guess I’m still waiting for you to actually be sorry.”
By this time, Baby Fuzzy had come up to Isabel and tugged on her pant leg. Isabel looked down. Baby Fuzzy held out her arms. Isabel picked her up, sat her in the crook of her arm, and scratched her head. Baby Fuzzy seemed to enjoy this.
“She really is like a cat,” Holloway said. The conversation he was having with Isabel had gone bad quickly. Holloway was ready to dump it and start a new one.